The Witch Trials of JK Rowling: ‘It isn’t hate to speak the truth’
The author is refusing to censor her position on women and trans-women, agreeing to chronicle how her enemies have attempted to vilify her.
They burnt her books.
Of all the insults and the indignities heaped upon J.K. Rowling since she dared speak her mind about things that are, as a woman, important to her, it was the burning of her books that spooked.
That is why people do it, of course: book-burning isn’t designed only to destroy the books.
It is designed to terrify.
Rowling is not terrified. Or maybe she is, but she is refusing to censor her heartfelt position on women and trans-women (they are not the same thing) and agreeing to take part in a three-part podcast series, commissioned by the equally bold Bari Weiss of The Free Press, to discuss the ways in which her enemies have attempted to vilify her.
A one-minute trailer for perfectly-named The Witch Trials of JK Rowling shot to the top of Apple’s website when it dropped on Wednesday morning.
It features an interview with Rowling conducted by a Megan Phelps-Roper, who knows a little about hate speech, having grown up with a very closed mind in a cult of twisted messaging, before escaping to marry a man she met on Twitter.
The Witch Trials of JK Rowling promises to examine the impact of censorship, vilification, and cancel culture.
Rowling’s Harry Potter books are delightful feats of imagination. They contain important social messages, impressing courage, friendship and loyalty upon children.
Difference is celebrated.
But, as Phelps-Roper said on The Free Press this morning, Rowling has in recent years “become a kind of Voldemort—the villain of villains in her own stories.”
It began with a Tweet:
“People who menstruate,’” Rowling wrote, quoting a headline. “I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”
Of course, that word used to be “women” and it’s in danger of being erased, as are the words “mother” and “girl” so as not to offend transwomen, who were of course born male.
“I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives,” Rowling said. “It isn’t hate to speak the truth.”
She soon discovered that transgender activists have much louder voices than women in this debate, and they can be far more vicious.
I agreed to sit down with Megan because, having read her wonderful book, Unfollow, I thought the two of us could have a real, interesting, two-sided conversation that might prove constructive. You can listen and find out for yourself here: https://t.co/aYx3XGQ9jl
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) February 14, 2023
TikTokers started a trend of covering Rowling’s name on her own book jackets. Players tried to rename Quidditch—the fictional sport Rowling invented— and yes, there was burning of her books.
“I never set out to upset anyone,” Rowling says, in the trailer. “However, I was not uncomfortable with getting off my pedestal.
“What has interested me over the last ten years, and certainly the last two or three years, particularly on social media [is the view that] ‘You’ve ruined your legacy’ . . . ‘You could have been beloved forever but you chose to say this’.
She says her enemies in this regard “could not have misunderstood me more profoundly.”
Rowling was herself the victim of male violence, and is passionate about preserving female-only spaces.
Her interlocuter knows quite a bit about the importance of debate in driving out hate.
She was born into the Westboro Baptist Church, and says: “From the age of five, I protested with my parents, siblings, and extended family on sidewalks across America—including outside the funerals of AIDS victims and American soldiers – (holding) signs with messages like “God Hates Fags.”
When she took to Twitter to spread those messages, she found gentle friends “who—through kindness, friendly mockery, and civil conversation—helped me see that it was me who needed to change”.
The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling begins on Tuesday, February 21.
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